Fish
Aliger gigas
S tier
Aliger gigas (formerly Strombus gigas), the queen conch, is the defining Caribbean conch of salads, fritters, and cracked conch steaks. The shell flares pink inside; the meat is white to cream with a dark skin sometimes trimmed. Flavour is mild, sweet, and oceanic without heavy iodine when fresh. Chop fine for salad with citrus and bird pepper; pound for frying. Legal harvest sizes protect breeding stocks—buy from documented Caribbean suppliers.
Track this ingredient
Unit
Characteristics
Preparations
Cracked FriedFritterSalad
Traits
Caribbean IconChewyIconicManaged TradeMild-SweetPink ShellQueen Species
History
Lucayan and other Caribbean peoples depended on queen conch from clear shallows.
The species entered scientific literature and later global shell trade fame.
CITES listing increased scrutiny of international queen conch trade.